Liturgy

Lit-ur-gy: Late Latin liturgia, from Greek (koine) leitourgia public service, leitourgos public servant. 1) a Eucharistic rite. 2) a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship. 3) a public service, the public service of God, public worship, belonging to the people.

Liturgy is an ancient worship style used by the early church in an attempt to teach the theology of the church and involve all of the people present at the corporate gathering (1 Corinthians 15:3-7 is most likely an ancient form of Liturgy displaying the early doctrine of the resurrection). The term comes from a Greek word meaning service that seems to emphasize community with service to God. Our interest in using a simple Liturgy is similar. Worship should move people towards participation rather than observation, which is the aim of our Liturgy. Thus, it helps us deconstruct the idea that we come to church to view a show where one person displays his/her gifts for the patrons to watch. We hope the use of Liturgy in this way will encourage the young and old, male and female, black and white to display their gifts, talents, and creative energy as they participate in our service.

Liturgy also helps us reflect the Trinitarian nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (unity and diversity) and radiate His story (the gospel). We hope to do this through the preaching of the Word and the sacrament of communion, as well as common participation in prayer, responsive readings, and singing. Worship is, therefore, connected to the totality of what we do and who we are, not just in singing songs. Our Liturgy is designed to use the form of the weekly service as a visual presentation of the gospel. We begin in repentance and move to hope, thanksgiving, and the centrality of Christ through the communion. We then act in response to Christ through celebrative song and giving.

If every member is a minister, then we need to begin to reflect that in our worship services. The following explains our stations of worship and the reason for them.

-- Liturgical Stations --

Call to Worship: The story of our redemption begins with God’s call to us. We begin our time of corporate worship with scripture and song that embodies this call.

Repentance: Repentance is where we begin our approach to God. According to 1 John 1:8, 10 if we say we are without sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and we make God a liar. Acts 2:38 reminds us that we are to “Repent and believe” as the proper response to God’s message of salvation. When we humbly acknowledge our sins, we are in agreement with God, and He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins (1 John 1:9). We believe that understanding these truths are key to preaching and living the gospel, and therefore practice them in our liturgy through contemplative prayer and song.

Hope: The gospel tells us that God is continually redeeming humanity unto himself. As we exist in the tension between a fallen world and eternity with Christ, we remember those who are suffering both at home and abroad through contemplative prayer and song.

Thanksgiving: God works all things for the good of those that love him, and we should not take this for granted. By joining together to give thanks for answered prayers, daily provision, natural beauty, and salvation, we acknowledge our deep love for our God, the supreme gift-giver.

Prayer for our Children: We value families and children. Weekly, we honor our teachers and pray for our children who are in covenant with us to His glory.

Sermon: We are mandated to preach God’s word and interpret it so that the meaning is understood and we can be exhorted and equipped to live a life unto God (Nehemiah 8:7,8; 2 Timothy 4:1-3).

Nicene/Apostle’s Creed: The ancient creeds help us remember the basics of the Christian faith, and the fact that we are united together in creed with the universal and historical church.

Communion: This sacrament, united with the Word of God and baptism, not only reminds us of Christ’s life and death on our behalf (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21), but it also reminds us of our future hope in Christ Jesus. We are also reminded of the fact that we will some day celebrate this meal with Him and all believers for all time at the wedding feast of the lamb (Matthew 26:29; Revelation 19:7).

Celebration: We respond to the Word of God, communion, and God’s forgiveness with a time of celebrative music.

Prayer for Offering: Giving to God’s work is an act of worship, and our possessions and income is the Lord’s, and not our own. The Bible calls us to give cheerfully and sacrificially.

Benediction: We have God’s peace in His Son. We end our time of corporate worship with both a reminder of our new-found peace in Christ and a charge to complete our mission in the world throughout the week.